grit

[Tass]

On the calcium side of this topic,I give my birds a product called Biocal, . Finches love it especially the hens just before breeding and young fledglings.

The part about the grit has me confused, should we give them grit or is it harmful to them?

[nicko]

I use the small white sea shell grit from the pet store & grind that down, that said, if you think about it most finches are inland birds with little or no access to shell grit & survive - so do we really need to supply it ??
I too believe that oyster shell grit is to abrasive & sharp edged for the finches

[Craig52]

Birds in the wild find other sources for calcium and minerals by what they eat be it insects and greens or just out of the ground with other minerals and salts. We try to regulate that by supplying calcium sources known by humans.
Calcium cannot be absorbed by our birds if Vitamin D3 is not available from direct sunshine or synthetically made by humans. For hundreds of years cuttle bone has and is the main source we supply today along with liquid calcium supplied in their drinking water as well as cooked chicken egg shells. The latter does not need to be ground down to a powder and can be fed in large pieces and your birds will enjoy breaking just the right amount off to eat as it becomes very brittle when cooked or microwaved.
I have to disagree about finches not needing hard grit, they still need help in the gizzard to grind down their husked seed otherwise it would just go straight though them so a little bit of beach sand or crushed granitic sand will not hurt them. imo Craig

[finchbreeder]

I have to disagree about finches not needing hard grit, they still need help in the gizzard to grind down their husked seed otherwise it would just go straight though them so a little bit of beach sand or crushed granitic sand will not hurt them.
I 2nd that. They may husk most of their seed, but not all, so some grit is essential. And a good compramise is a little sand from the beach, grit and whatever is good in salt water.
LML

[starman]

The part about the grit has me confused, should we give them grit or is it harmful to them?

Tass, This is my take on it.

The confusion relating to grits for finches stems from the type of grit that we customarily supply. Most of these are shell based (egg shell, sea shell, oyster shell, fossil shell, sand silicates etc). These are of benefit in supplying calcium and other minerals to supplement the diet. Finches are very adept at de-husking their seed, and so have a lesser need for the hard, igneous rock particles (grit) that birds which swallow whole grains require to physically break down the undigested matter in their gizzard. Not only do finches have a diminished need for this type of grit, some sources say that in large amounts, because it is completely indigestible, it can cause binding (occlusion) in the bowel, and so can be potentially harmful. A small amount of hard grit however, may be beneficial and would be hard for a bird to avoid while picking seed from the ground. The largely calcium/organic mineral based grit that we supply to our finches is completely digested and absorbed within the gut. In nature the birds get to choose their needs, in aviculture they get only what we supply.

[starman]

Sorry Craig and FB, I seem to have been repetitive again ..... watching TV, eating, and taking phone calls while writing a post is not good policy..... I sometimes miss a few other posts while I alternate between distractions.

[STUART WHITING]

Birds in the wild find other sources for calcium and minerals by what they eat be it insects and greens or just out of the ground with other minerals and salts. We try to regulate that by supplying calcium sources known by humans.
Calcium cannot be absorbed by our birds if Vitamin D3 is not available from direct sunshine or synthetically made by humans. For hundreds of years cuttle bone has and is the main source we supply today along with liquid calcium supplied in their drinking water as well as cooked chicken egg shells. The latter does not need to be ground down to a powder and can be fed in large pieces and your birds will enjoy breaking just the right amount off to eat as it becomes very brittle when cooked or microwaved.
I have to disagree about finches not needing hard grit, they still need help in the gizzard to grind down their husked seed otherwise it would just go straight though them so a little bit of beach sand or crushed granitic sand will not hurt them. imo Craig

Well said Craig, however I can assure you that mineralised grit is actually not necessary for finches, I admittedly used to think the birds needed it for many years but now I know better,
As I mentioned earlier that mineral grit can actually cause problems for birds in the long rung, don't get me wrong yes some birds can go a whole lifetime without any problems but others can definitely suffer,

Now I've honestly seen X Ray scans of birds where they've swallowed mineral grit and has become stuck in the trachea, crop, Gizzard and even in the intestines

This is no joke as these scans I've seen from a freind who's daughter works for an American avain vet and have seen as many as 30 odd different cases where mineral grit has been the cause,

I've also seen enough vets evidence being 4 - 5 different cases of clogged crops and Gizzards on birds over here in England aswell,

The " Late " very well known English waxbill expert Ian Heinz also extensively surgested in not using mineral grit for exactly the reason mentioned.

However as I also mentioned earlier that the use of oyster shell is perfectly fine as this is not used to aid digestion because the birds simply don't need it for that but it is mearly for the use of calcium intake aswell as using cuttlefish bone or any calci liquid

[Craig52]

Thank you Stewart, let's agree to disagree on the hard grit debate. Cheers Craig

[STUART WHITING]

Thank you Stewart, let's agree to disagree on the hard grit debate. Cheers Craig

No problem Craig,

I'd be very interested though if there are any factual evidence of any grit being beneficial to finches for aid of digestion, maybe somebody like Dr Robb the veterinary surgeon of Sydney may have some interesting facts

[nicko]

I have to disagree about finches not needing hard grit, they still need help in the gizzard to grind down their husked seed otherwise it would just go straight though them so a little bit of beach sand or crushed granitic sand will not hurt them.
LML

finchbreeder what sort of granitic sand - limestone??